Reading, talking and wondering at the poems of the great Beat poet and Zen Center priest

In this short workshop we will read and discuss poems from The Collected Poems of Philip Whalen (Wesleyan University Press). Bring your favorites, if you have them, and come prepared to listen, talk, ponder and maybe write something of your own. Norman Fischer, who is the workshop leader and a poet himself, was Philip's friend and disciple, and is his literary executor.

Zoketsu Norman Fischer (Senior Dharma Teacher)Zoketsu Norman Fischer is a poet and Zen Buddhist priest. For many years he has taught at the San Francisco Zen Center, the oldest and largest of the new Buddhist organizations in the West, where he served as co-Abbot from 1995-2000. He is currently a Senior Dharma Teacher there as well as the founder and spiritual director of the Everyday Zen Foundation, an organization dedicated to adapting Zen Buddhist teachings to Western culture.